


Drink the Blue Kool-Aid

by alexme7_7



Series: Be Less Chill Chat Alternate Universes [2]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cults, Gen, jeremy accidentally joins a cult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 14:51:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15687624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexme7_7/pseuds/alexme7_7
Summary: Sometimes you're too polite to turn down an invitation from someone you met at a cafe and the next thing you know, you're draped in red robes, hoping your dad won’t be too disappointed when the police find your body.





	Drink the Blue Kool-Aid

Sometimes you're too polite to turn down an invitation from someone you met at a cafe and the next thing you know, you're draped in red robes, hoping your dad won’t be too disappointed when the police find your body.

To be fair to himself, since graduation, Jeremy had been very lonely. While all of his friends had gone off and found jobs, he was still stuck in their little college town, working at a diner. Serves him right for majoring in English.

They always sat in the same place in the diner, every Saturday morning, and sometimes, Jeremy got to serve them. They just seemed so cool, a young group of friends hanging out, looking perfect and laughing together. Jeremy wanted that more than anything, but he was lucky if his stupid stuttering brain let him take their orders without stumbling. In Jeremy’s eyes, it was practically a miracle that after his shift one day, they asked him to sit with them. He wasn’t going to turn down an offer as generous as that.

They had all greeted him with wide smiles and warm words, putting him at ease instantly. They were just so _chill_. And when he fumbled over his words for the billionth time, one of the boys just smiled at him and told him that they were all like him at some point. Through friendship, they had all learned to be more chill.

Jeremy finally felt more at ease than he had in months.

At first it was normal. He’d hang out with them after his Saturday shift and sometimes go to their game nights or bonfires or hikes. Slowly but surely, he became more and more integrated into the group, choosing to ignore their sometimes-unnerving smiles or odd insistences that he should drink more Mountain Dew. They were nice to him! Christine had told him to meet new people, so he did. They were a bit… quirky, but they were nice to him.

And then it got real weird real fast. Looking back on it, it wasn’t that fast. He had been blinded by the need for friendship, it’s embarrassing really. Ceremonies, three am hikes, the really weird fixation on Mountain Dew. The final straw was when they measured him for robes, but he was in too deep. He’d try to avoid them, they’d find him. He had no choice. Besides, they were still really nice to him. It’s not like they had performed any virgin sacrifices or anything…

“There’s a new guy in town,” Rafael said to Jeremy quietly over coffee one morning, “We were thinking he’d be pretty useful to us… Wanna help us bring him to talk?"

“What if he doesn’t want to?” Jeremy asked, trying not to fidget nervously. He wasn’t supposed to do that.

“All you have to do is talk to him,” He assured Jeremy.

And so, Jeremy agreed. The guy’s name was Michael, he was here for a week in a motel on the outskirts of town. Jeremy wasn’t sure what kind of skills someone that temporary would be able to bring to their group, but he didn’t want to disappoint. All he was told to do was to take Michael for a walk and tell him about their group.

Michael was nice enough, a bit wary of Jeremy at first, but seemingly grateful for the human interaction. He was there on a cross-country solo roadtrip after graduating from college, trying to figure out what to do next. He was easy to talk to, but Jeremy got a little distracted from the original plan of telling Michael all about his friends like he had been told to.

So he definitely wasn’t expecting that the moment they rounded the corner, Michael was ambushed by Rafael and Kimberly. Hit in the back of the head, bound and gagged, and thrown into the back of Rafael’s van, all while Jeremy looked on, stunned. It wasn’t until Rafael hearded him into the van did he realize what was happening. He had just become a kidnapper.

Jeremy is too stunned to move. So he sat in the van while Kimberly and Rafael tied Michael up in Rafael’s basement. Didn’t even flinch when Kimberly congratulates him on being so _chill_. He listened to Rafael and Kimberly ramble about how the “ceremonies” tonight were going to be the best ever. He even managed to fill his plate at the family style buffet restaurant they end up at with the rest of the gang, some sort of macabre celebration of Jeremy’s actions.

But his hands are sweaty, and his heart is racing a mile a minute. Jeremy isn’t faking when he excuses himself to go to the washroom because he feels nauseous. He can’t look himself in the mirror when he enters, going straight for the stall. But he doesn’t throw up. His mind is suddenly clear as he looks up and sees a tiny window above his stall.

And suddenly, Jeremy is booking it down the darkening road, wild and flailing. The street had a bluish, foggy tint to it. His hoodie blew behind him, exposing that stupid Eminem shirt that he bought because everyone else in the group said it was cool. He ran faster.

He doesn’t stop until he practically runs into Rafael’s backdoor, sweaty and huffing. The backdoor is locked because of course it would be. He crouches to see in the basement window, and there he is. Michael is struggling against the ropes like his life depends on it, because it probably does.

So, Jeremy does the only thing a sane and rational person would do. He pulls off his sweater, wraps it around his hand, and punches the window. Hard. He doesn’t even crack the glass, but he pulls away with two probably broken fingers, so that’s fun. He swears and writhes for a moment, but then realizes Michael is now looking at him, horror in his eyes.

He waves to Michael. And then mentally kicks himself, because what’s Michael gonna do? Wave back?

Jeremy stands and something crunches under his feet. A rock? No. Well, sort of. A fake rock. Jeremy picks it up and finds a key. In a stunning turn of events, it’s the key to the back door. Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles. Jeremy needs to start going back to temple. Maybe. He’ll see how this turns out.

So Jeremy rushes down the stairs, mind sharp as a tack, focused on Michael, and Michael freezes like he doesn’t know that Jeremy is his saviour. Jeremy is sure that if it wasn’t for the duct tape over his mouth, Michael would be singing praises. His glare says differently, but Jeremy is just gonna keep telling himself that.

He rushes into the other room and comes back brandishing an exacto-knife, and Jeremy is absolutely confused when Michael whimpers and backs away from him like he’s holding a knife or something…. Wait a minute…

“Oh God, I’m not here to kill you I swear. I’m here to save you,” Jeremy rambles, approaching Michael carefully. 

The guy keeps struggling.

“I ONLY HAVE THE USE OF MY LEFT HAND AND IF YOU DON’T STOP MOVING I _WILL_ ACCIDENTALLY STAB YOU.”

Michael stops, still eyeing Jeremy with suspicion.

“Thank you.”

Jeremy makes decent time with the ropes, only minorly stabbing Michael three or four times, making himself very proud. It is better than being ritually sacrificed, Jeremy wants to remind Michael. Jeremy gets his hands, then goes down to work on Michael’s feet, while Michael rips the ducttape off with no fear of any god. Jeremy saws through the ropes, expecting him to start yeliing at any moment.

It never comes.

What does come, however, is a hard boot to his face, knocking him over and making his vision go dark for a moment as he swears.

"Get the fuck away from me, I have a taser."

Jeremy looks up, ignoring the spinning room, holding his cheek gingerly.

"They checked you when they knocked you out. You didn't have any weapons. Just that old pokemon wallet. What the fuck dude?"

"What the fuck me? What the fuck you? You befriended me and then shoved me in the back of a van."

"I DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE GOING TO HURT YOU!”

“THAT DOESN’T MAKE IT ANY BETTER!”

Jeremy stumbled to his feet, hands out in front of him, "Look, they're probably already on their way back now. I snuck out the bathroom window of Don's Family Style Buffet and came to get you out. I'll explain it all later. But can we please just run for now?"

Jeremy's right hand is still half wrapped in his hoodie, he's covered in sweat, and now he has a huge red mark on his cheek, quickly turning into a bruise, with a bit of blood running from his eyebrow. He looks insane.

Michael shakes his head and heaves a sigh, "Just get me back to my motel?"

Jeremy is already running out the door, assuming Michael will follow. Michael realizes this after a moment of delay and books it after Jeremy. It was either follow him, or stay in the fucking basement of doom. He was gonna take his chances.

Jeremy ducks through backyards, into an alley and Michael finally catches up.

"We cant stay at the motel," Jeremy huffs out.

"You definitely can't!" Michael retorts, following Jeremy down another sharp turn, lungs burning.

"You can't either! They're going to come for you! That's the first place they'll look."

"Thanks to you!"

"They would have come after you with or without me!"

Jeremy turns again, and they run out into the motel parking lot. Michael takes the lead, running to his room and throwing open the door.

"You didn’t lock your door?" Jeremy asked, standing in the doorway, watching Michael throw stuff into a duffle bag.

"I thought I was coming right back. Right before I got shoved into a van."

Jeremy throws a glance back to the parking lot and does a double take, "Shit, we gotta go dude."

Two familiar cars were rolling down the street, pulling into the parking lot.

"Okay okay okay," Michael huffs, pushing Jeremy out the door and running to a beat-up car. Both boys dive in and Michael guns it, ignoring the angry voices getting closer. He throws the car into reverse.

**_Thunk._ **

"I just hit someone," Michael breathed.

"Go, go, go!" Jeremy screeched. He probably wouldn’t be going back to temple for a while.

Both boys were thrown back into their seats as Michael sped forward and out of the parking lot. Michael's eyes were glued on the road, Jeremy was leaning over the front seat, watching the chaos until it disappeared out of sight.

Michael let out a chuckle and Jeremy did too. Soon both of them were laughing hard enough that Jeremy started tearing up. When they calmed down, they drove in silence for at least half an hour before Michael pulled over into an old gas station parking lot, pulling behind the building.

"Okay, what the hell? Who the fuck are you?" Michael hissed.

"Uh... hi, I'm Jeremy!"

"Great," Michael nodded, "fuck you, Jeremy. "

"I just saved your life!"

"After you almost got me sacrificed!"

"I broke my hand trying to get you out!"

"After you almost got me sacrificed!"

Jeremy paused, mouth open. Michael had a point.

"I didn't mean... to join a cult..." Jeremy finally says, "it was an accident."

Michael scoffs, "How do you accidentally join a cult?"

"I thought it was just like..."

"A gang?"

"No! A group? I wanted to make friends. I wanted to "be more chill".  I don’t know, man. I didn’t mean to drink the blue Kool-Aid."

"So you joined a cult,” Michael says.

" I didn’t know it was a cult!” Jeremy flails a little, trying to make a point, “Until it was too late! And then i just felt too... weird to tell them I wanted out."

"Holy shit," Michael mutters to himself.

"It was mostly really cool! We were all like, friends, or something..."

Neither of them speak for a moment.

"Sorry about your face," Michael says quietly, not looking at Jeremy.

Jeremy shrugs, "I would have probably done the same thing in your position."

"How's your hand?"

"Hurts like hell, I'm trying not to think about it," Jeremy winces.

Michael leans over and pops open the glovebox, grabbing a bottle from it.

"Here, take one or two," Michael says, opening the bottle.

Jeremy takes two with a quiet thanks, knocking them back with some flat soda in the cup holder next to him.

"Thanks."

“No problem, Jeremy,” Michael smiles slightly, “Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments and kudos <3


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